Photo shows a meteor's contrail is seen over a Russian village of on Friday. NASA said today the meteorite is not connected to the asteroid expected to buzz Earth this afternoon.

Written by

Todd Halvorson
FLORIDA TODAY

ORLANDO -- The bus-sized meteorite that exploded over central Russia today likely is not related to the asteroid that will pass remarkably close to Earth this afternoon, scientists said.

Speeding through the atmosphere at 30,000 miles per hour, the meteorite blew up over the city of Chelyabinsk, injuring an estimated 1,000 people and terrifying 1,000s of others. But the booming space rock probably didn't split off from Asteroid 2012DA14, which is expected to pass within 17,200 miles of the planet's surface at 2:24 p.m. EST. "It had a very different orbit than this asteroid," said Humberto ...